If you think you had a bad day at work...

ICBM

... at least you didn't drop an Airbus A380.

https://samchui.com/2019/08/24/maintenance-mishap-damages-emirates-a380/

Roland

Did you hear the one about the engineer who retracted the undercarriage on an F15 whilst it was sitting on the tarmac?

dano

Must of made a loud bang !

I've worked in maintenance hangars for 747, 777, A330 and there are some phenomenal hydraulics used for jacking them up. Some mishap then.

ICBM

Roland said:

Did you hear the one about the engineer who retracted the undercarriage on an F15 whilst it was sitting on the tarmac?

Even better is the RAF engineering officer who accidentally took off in an English Electric Lightning! Luckily, he did actually know how to fly - although not jets - and somehow managed to work out enough to land it safely some time later...

http://www.neillwatson.com/historic-motorsport/accidental-fighter-pilot/

stickyfiddle

Oh man, someone's getting deported... 

TimmyO

I was the engineering member on a board of inquiry into a C130 falling off its jacks during maintenance. I still have the jacking pad that was damaged as it slipped and use it as a doorstop.

TimmyO

Roland said:

Did you hear the one about the engineer who retracted the undercarriage on an F15 whilst it was sitting on the tarmac?

It needs a lot of mistakes for that to even be possible - not least faulty wiring in the weight-on-wheels sensor circuit  (which will have multiple independent inspections during the procedure)

TimmyO

dano said:

Must of made a loud bang !

I've worked in maintenance hangars for 747, 777, A330 and there are some phenomenal hydraulics used for jacking them up. Some mishap then.

The jacks themselves almost never fail, and if they're operated correctly (turning the locking collar as you go) even a loss of pressure should only result in a drop of less than a cm which shouldn't cause a slip. 

*Every* jacking accident I've known has been the result of errors in managing/instructing  the jack operators resulting in one jack going up either too much or too little compared to the rest. The result being a big bang and brown trousers all round. 

Deadman

TimmyO said:

I was the engineering member on a board of inquiry into a C130 falling off its jacks during maintenance. I still have the jacking pad that was damaged as it slipped and use it as a doorstop.

Lyneham @TimmyO ?

C130J has big problems at the moment with the centre wing spar cracking. Wing off a possibility.

lasermonkey

I've sat in that particular Lightning, as it is preserved at Duxford. It's surprisingly claustrophobic in the cockpit and there's very little forward vision with the gunsight filling the windscreen. 

I was reading that Buccaneer pilots would select gear up when rolling and the WOW would retract the gear whilst the aircraft seeming appeared to still be on the ground. A very impressive sight, although I understand that one pilot at Honington had a bit of an embarrassing moment, as there's a pronounced hump on the runway.

Emp_Fab

Oops !

Engineers ran an engine test with the hydraulics off and no chocks...  Brand new A340-600 written off...  roughly $275M

...at £20 a week each from their wages....  that's er...

Emp_Fab

Similar scenario.....

bluechargeboy

A tangentially related incident in my field of endeavour:

In 2003 Lockheed dropped the NOAA-N spacecraft off its holder during testing, due to it not being bolted down. These things happen.

TimmyO

bluechargeboy said:

A tangentially related incident in my field of endeavour:

In 2003 Lockheed dropped the NOAA-N spacecraft off its holder during testing, due to it not being bolted down. These things happen.

...and if the same supervisor has oversigned any of the assembly tasks, they probably had to take it apart and start again anyway 

TimmyO

Deadman said:

TimmyO said:

I was the engineering member on a board of inquiry into a C130 falling off its jacks during maintenance. I still have the jacking pad that was damaged as it slipped and use it as a doorstop.

Lyneham @TimmyO ?

C130J has big problems at the moment with the centre wing spar cracking. Wing off a possibility.

Yep, JengO A-Line, then came back in AES and Eng Ops 

Paul_C

I tipped a Honda Vision moped upside down off a workbench once, trying to undo the front wheel axle nut - it was pretty bashed up anyway and still worked so we didn't mention it to the owner.

ICBM

Paul_C said:

I tipped a Honda Vision moped upside down off a workbench once, trying to undo the front wheel axle nut - it was pretty bashed up anyway and still worked so we didn't mention it to the owner.

About 25 years ago I dropped a customer's '78 Les Paul Custom from about waist height onto a lino-covered concrete floor. It landed flat on its back headstock first, and I actually saw the neck flex like a bow, as if in slow motion - I was certain it was going to snap the head off, and that I would be buying the owner a new one...

Thankfully, Norlin had the foresight to make the neck from maple, so the guitar was completely undamaged. I've loved Norlin maple-neck Les Pauls ever since - and I have never again picked up a guitar case without checking that the latches are closed.

beed84

Now that is something to give a flying f*ck about!

midlifecrisis

Emp_Fab said:

Oops !

Engineers ran an engine test with the hydraulics off and no chocks...  Brand new A340-600 written off...  roughly $275M

...at £20 a week each from their wages....  that's er...

sponsored by gibson guitars

MattBanshee

midlifecrisis said:

Emp_Fab said:

Oops !

Engineers ran an engine test with the hydraulics off and no chocks...  Brand new A340-600 written off...  roughly $275M

...at £20 a week each from their wages....  that's er...

sponsored by gibson guitars

Bit of T-Cut and it'll polish out ok.

hollywoodrox

What an interesting thread. Wondering if anyone on here knew my uncle Barry “chas” Charley he was a chief tech at lyneham and I think he might have done some volunteer work at duxford . He sadly passed away in 2001  I still own and regularly play his epiphone les Paul standard. He was also at wittering , Singapore and Belize  and worked a lot on harrier’s and later Canberra